When Michigan State landed a verbal commitment from Darien Harris last week, his pledge not only added a talented, three-star outside linebacker to the future roster but the possibility of the Spartans tapping a pipeline into football power DeMatha High School (Hyattsville, Md.).

Harris is one of several DeMatha prospects the Spartans have been evaluating this recruiting cycle, and now they're looking to land three-star defensive tackle Darian Cooper (6-3, 275) and getting that DeMatha pipeline flowing.

In fact, the Spartans were hoping to get some face time with Cooper this past weekend, but his planned unofficial visit to MSU had to be cancelled.

"Unfortunately I was unable to make it up there. My summer has been really hectic, and with my mom being sick, I wasn't really able to do too much traveling towards the later parts of the summer. So I wasn't able to make it up there," said Cooper, who holds offers from Clemson, Duke, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, MSU, NC State, Penn State, UCLA, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin, among others.

According to Cooper, the MSU staff was more than understanding about his need to cancel his visit, and that respect is one of the reasons the Spartans are very much in this recruitment. Cooper added that he remains in contact with his primary recruiter, MSU defensive line coach Ted Gill, weekly.